The Package
The Package is one of the seven short films comprising the anime adaptation of the Halo universe, Halo LegendsHalo.Bungie.Org - Halo Legends: Polite Questions Answered HereIGN.com - SDCC 09: Halo Legends In-Depth. A CGI film, The Package follows the Master Chief and a squad of SPARTAN-IIs as they execute a top-secret mission to retrieve an incredibly valuable UNSC asset on a Covenant Assault Carrier. Summary In the year 2535Thel became a Kaidon in 2535, and during the Package, John is a Master Chief, a rank he was granted in 2535, at which time Thel was a Major. By adding two and two together, one can determine that The Package takes place sometime during 2535., aboard an ONI stealth ship, the Spartans, consisting of John-117, Frederic-104, Kelly-087, Solomon-069 and Arthur-079, are briefed by an intelligence officer. A Covenant Fleet is momentarily trapped in the system. It is carrying an important "package" which the Spartans must retrieve. The stealth craft de-cloaks and deploys the Spartans in Booster Frames. The team make their way past an array of plasma weaponry and attach a scanning device to a CCS-class Battlecruiser to search for the "package's" frequency. Solomon detects the package on one of the ships. As soon as he leaves the vessel's hangar, he discovers an Antimatter Charge, which destroys the ship and kills him. Soon, the Spartans detect the same beacon frequency coming from all the ships around them. This confirms that the Covenant knows what the commandos are after. John deduces that the target is actually in the Assault Carrier Flagship. Arthur is killed while trying to cover Kelly from pursuing Seraphs. The remaining Spartans board the Assault Carrier and take cover inside a Bubble Shield. After making their way through thick Brute and Grunt defenses, the Spartans are ambushed by a team of Elites. Fred parries a swipe from an Energy Sword with his Spartan Laser, and kills his attacker with a combat knife, distracting John's own attacker and holding the Elites off long enough for John and Kelly to proceed. The Fleet Master gives the order to detach part of the hull, hoping to leave the Spartans stranded in space - Kelly manages to propel John back into the ship, but is left in the vacuum. John manages to recover the "package" - revealed to be Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, founder of the SPARTAN-II program, in cryo-hibernation. John releases the doctor and tries to effect an escape. However, their path is blocked by Thel 'Vadamee, who challenges John to a sword duel, giving the Spartan his other Energy Sword. Despite being disarmed in the duel, the human is saved when the Shipmaster decides to detach the entire lower hull section and jump to Slipspace after clearing the magnetic interference, leaving the Spartans and many Covenant survivors stranded. Thel can cause no harm as John and Halsey are sealed off from him. As he is lifted away from the soon-to-be-scuttled hull, he curses the Shipmaster with the words, "You fool! A thousand hells await you!" Now free of immediate Covenant danger, the two board a Covenant escape pod and are promptly pursued by Seraph fighters. They are saved by Fred and Kelly, who have captured another Seraph. The survivors are recovered by the stealth ship, which soon leaves the system. Once they are aboard, John swears that he'll never let another comrade die again.Halo Legends, The Package Appearances Characters *John-117 *Frederic-104 *Kelly-087Official Xbox Magazine, Holiday 2009, page 94 *Solomon-069 *Arthur-079 *Catherine Elizabeth Halsey *Thel 'VadameeHalo Legends, The Package - DVD subtitles confirm that the Major is Thel. *Unnamed ONI Commander *Unnamed Elite Bridge Officer *Unnamed Fleet Master Organizations *Covenant Empire **Covenant Navy *United Nations Space Command **UNSC Navy ***UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command ****SPARTAN-II Program ***Office of Naval Intelligence Species *Human *Sangheili *Unggoy *Kig-Yar *Jiralhanae Vehicles *Assault Carrier *OF-92/EVA Booster Frame *CCS-class Battlecruiser *''Seraph''-class Starfighter *Covenant Escape Pod *Unnamed Stealth Spacecraft Equipment *Bubble Shield Weapons *M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade *M7/Caseless Submachine Gun *M90A Close Assault Weapon System *MA5 Individual Combat Weapon System *Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword *Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol *Type-25 Grenade Launcher *Type-51 Carbine *Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galileian Nonlinear Rifle *Type-25 Carbine *Plasma Cannon *Close Quarters Combat Weapon System *Antimatter Charge Trivia *The art gallery seen on Halo Waypoint shows an Elite wearing an Assault Harness. However, it is incorrectly referred to as the Flight Harness, another armor permutation of the Elites. *The equipment used in The Package seems more advanced than the UNSC was previously thought to use. Rather than relying on photo-reactive panels for optical camouflage, the stealth ship uses a Covenant-style active camouflage system. Likewise, the Booster Frames seem to be at least partially protected by energy shields. Both of these technologies may have been reverse-engineered from Covenant technology. *Despite the fact that people must be put into cryo-sleep naked to avoid burns on the skin, Dr. Halsey is seen in her cryo pod fully clothed. This, like the closing scene in Halo Wars, was most likely done to avoid implementing a nude scene, which in turn would give Halo Legends a M or AO rating. *Solomon's HUD states that he is holding a Spartan Laser and SMG, even though he is holding an assault rifle. *All Covenant species in the film are depicted to have green blood, a trait none of them actually possess. *The Package reveals that some of Cortana's lines were references to quotes from Halsey. However, the line "No thanks to their driving, yes," is mentioned by John-117, who is also referencing Halsey. *The battle between John-117 and Thel 'Vadamee lasts 7 seconds, the number favored by Bungie. *Despite the fact that Frederic-104 remains behind to fight two Elites, the Shipmaster's console continues to display three hostiles moving down the corridor, though it only should have shown two, John-117 and Kelly-087. This error can be seen on two occasions. *Brutes are shown commanding squads of Grunts and Jackals instead of Elites on an Elite controlled ship. It is unknown why they would be commanding squads on an Elite controlled ship if both species display such a strong hatred for each other. Throughout the episode, no Elites are seen fighting the Spartans (with the exception of Thel 'Vadam and his team of Elites), only Brutes, Grunts and Jackals. *On one occasion, the Elite bridge officer refers to the Brutes as "brothers" when the Elite commander orders him to detach sections of the ship. If the Elites and Brutes display such strong hatred for each other then it is unknown why the officer would refer to them as "brothers" as it is an Elite term that only Elites are heard saying to other Elites. Although it may be possible that the Spartans did actually fight Elites on the ship, only not seen on camera. It is more likely however, that he was referring to the other species on the ship, not just the Brutes. *The assault rifles that the Spartans are equipped with do not seem to eject spent cartridges. This may be an oversight, but the Spartans might have been using caseless ammunition, which would be practical for such a mission. *John's assault rifle incorrectly sounds like an M247 GPMG. The SMG also incorrectly sounds like an MA5C Assault Rifle. *The SMGs may have a larger-than-normal clip since the Chief is able to fire continuously. However, it is possible that he reloads every time he is off screen. He also has no problem with the recoil of the SMGs while shooting. *The MJOLNIR Mark IV armor worn by John-117 and his fellow SPARTAN-IIs appears very similar appearance to the Mark VI and the distinct coloring of each Spartan's armor, and their HUD resembles the Mark VI in Halo 3, and it even includes the shield meter, even though the Mark IV does not have shields (MJOLNIR shields were not in use until 2552). Though some of these details are stylistic interpretations/representations and errors, the suits themselves are a variant of the Mark IV armor.[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive32.pl?read=971433 halo.bungie.org: Re: Halo panel at ECCC] *The Booster Frames seem to have chaffs/flares to trap Covenant plasma torpedoes. It is unknown why the UNSC vessels are not equipped with these flares. *Many of the maneuvers performed by the Spartans seem to completely ignore Newton's third law of motion. *In the books, a few bullets could send a Spartan spinning out of trajectory in the non-friction space, while Kelly fired hundreds of them with a machine gun. However, the weapon is mounted on the back of a vehicle, and Frank O'Connor stated that they consulted with a physicist on the feasibility of having a working chain gun in space, who told them what is seen in the episode is plausible.Halo Legends The Package DVD Commentary *Kelly says "We've got three minutes." when the Spartans are on the Covenant Flagship and the Spartans had ten minutes to complete the mission (10-3=7) meaning the Spartans had spent seven minutes fighting in space. Gallery Image:SpartansLegends.jpg|Four of the Spartan-IIs being briefed on the mission. (From left to right: Fredric-104, Arthur-079, Solomon-069 and Kelly-087.) File:CCS Legends.jpg|A CCS-Class Battlecruiser firing its plasma weaponry. File:117 Legends.jpg|John-117 piloting his Booster Frame. File:John Booster.jpg|John-117 entering the launch bay of the CCS-Class Battlecruiser. File:Halsey n' John.jpg|John-117 and Dr. Halsey facing 'Vadamee. File:Fred 2.jpg|Fred-104 firing a Spartan Laser aboard the Covenant carrier. Notes Sources Package, The